My kitchen table is not just old; it’s pretty beat up. But it tells a story, our story. There are deep marks from a screwdriver where I struggled to assemble toys for my daughters my first Christmas Eve as a single mom. There is Michael’s 3rd grade history paper engraved in the middle, he clearly was pressing on his pencil a bit too hard. There are a million memories of loud dinners with the whole wild family, watching my boys with BBQ sauce on their faces, and my girls rolling their eyes because they could never get a word in edge wise. This table has seen its share hard days, and even more brilliant ones. So, I am keeping it, forever.
We are living in a society of emotional orphans; there is a disconnection between parents and children. As long as that continues we will continue to see more and more depression, anxiety, drug abuse and violence plague the core of our humanity. Turning the hearts of the fathers/mothers towards the children and children’s hearts towards their parents is the only way to save a dying generation.
Getting back to looking each other in the eyes is the only way to start a movement toward connecting the generations, and the kitchen table is the perfect place to do it. This is not about perfect meals or elaborate presentations, this about putting away our phones and asking questions of those across the table from us, and even more importantly, really listening to the answers.
Please join us on this journey; a gift of $1, $5, $25 – what ever you can do to help us launch this project, thank you, and get to the Kitchen!
